Before the season, there were many who speculated that the Chicago Bears could be this year’s version of the 2017 LA Rams, which meant a young team with a second-year quarterback and a first-year head coach that could take a major step forward.

The Bears are a lot like the 2017 Rams. First-year coach Matt Nagy has brought an innovative, creative offensive system to the team, much like Sean McVay did for the Rams.

Quarterback Mitch Trubisky has taken a major step forward in his second season, much like Jared Goff did for the Rams.

Oh, and the Bears are winning – just like the Rams. At 6-3, the Bears are in first place in the NFC North and up to No. 8 in my Power Rankings this week. They are not only impressing on offense, but the defense is also playing well.

The Bears haven’t exactly defeated the league’s elite to get their six victories, but they are winning games. We will know a lot more about the Bears in the next 10 days. They play a tough home game for first place against the Vikings Sunday, and then have a short turnaround to play the Lions on the road Thanksgiving NFL 2018.

The Bears blew out the Lions this past Sunday, but that’s a lot tougher game being on the road that day.

So check back in 10 days. We will truly know if the Bears are this year’s version of the 2017 Rams.

It looks like it’s heading in that direction – something I didn’t see happening.
Biggest Movers
7 Titans
6 Lions

The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League, as a member club of the league’s National Football Conference West division.

Los Angeles Rams Game Schedule 2017

Week

Date

Opponent

Time (ET)

TV

1

Sunday, Sept. 10

vs. Indianapolis Colts

4:05 p.m.

CBS

2

Sunday, Sept. 17

vs. Washington Redskins

4:25 p.m.

Fox

3

Thursday, Sept. 21

at San Francisco 49ers

8:25 p.m.

NFL Network

4

Sunday, Oct. 1

at Dallas Cowboys

1 p.m.

Fox

5

Sunday, Oct. 8

vs. Seattle Seahawks

4:05 p.m.

CBS

6

Sunday, Oct. 15

at Jacksonville Jaguars

4:05 p.m.

Fox

7

Sunday, Oct. 22

vs. Arizona Cardinals

1 p.m. (London)

Fox

8

BYE

—–

—–

—–

9

Sunday, Nov. 5

at New York Giants

4:05 p.m.

Fox

10

Sunday, Nov. 12

vs. Houston Texans

4:05 p.m.

CBS

11

Sunday, Nov. 19

at Minnesota Vikings

1 p.m.

Fox

12

Sunday, Nov. 26

vs. New Orleans Saints

4:05 p.m.

Fox

13

Sunday, Dec. 3

at Arizona Cardinals

4:25 p.m.

Fox

14

Sunday, Dec. 10

vs. Philadelphia Eagles

4:25 p.m.

Fox

15

Sunday, Dec. 17

at Seattle Seahawks

4:05 p.m.

Fox

16

Sunday, Dec. 24

at Tennessee Titans

1 p.m.

Fox

17

Sunday, Dec. 31

vs. San Francisco 49ers

4:25 p.m.

Fox

The Los Angeles Rams enter 2017 with a new head coach. Sean McVay should be an instant upgrade over Jeff Fisher despite being just 31 years old and having no head coaching experience, simply because he is not Jeff Fisher.

Elsewhere, though, the Rams still have many of the same problems that plagued them under Fisher. Jared Goff is coming off one of the worst rookie seasons for a quarterback in recent history; McVay is basically stuck with him this season (and likely beyond) due to the heavy investment of the previous regime.

The Los Angeles offense isn’t doing much to help Goff’s transition, either. The Rams offensive line ranks in the league’s bottom tier, so much so that they might have ruined Todd Gurley last season. There are few (if any) teams with worse situations at wide receiver, and leading receiver Kenny Britt left this offseason for Cleveland – Los Angeles Rams Game

Analysis

The Rams, thanks to some high-key bad luck, have the most difficult schedule in the NFC West based on 2016 records. That’s always a bit of a fallacy to rank based on something with such a high variance, but it’s a good base barometer.

Los Angeles plays Seattle and Arizona twice. That’s bad. The Seahawks made some moves to fortify their roster, notably bringing in Eddie Lacy and adding a couple of offensive line pieces—albeit not as many as their fans would have liked. The Cardinals were a better team than their record suggested last season and have most of their top players back, though they did lose safety Tony Jefferson.

The Rams are going to be underdogs in both of those games.

On the bright side, Los Angeles also plays San Francisco twice. The 49ers might be the worst team in football. Their additions of Brian Hoyer, Pierre Garcon, etc. aren’t inspiring much beyond apathy. Odds are the Rams will be favored in both of those games.

The NFC West will face the NFC East and AFC South as their common divisions this season, one perhaps morphing into the NFL’s best division and the other by far its worst. The reigning NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys have second-year players at quarterback and running back who were Pro Bowlers as rookies; they’re only going to get better. The Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants are also going to be fashionable Super Bowl sleepers in some sections.

(Washington remains a dumpster fire.)

The AFC South division champion traded away its second-round pick next season so it no longer had to pay its quarterback. Things are going great over there!

Los Angeles remaining two games are at the Minnesota Vikings and home against the New Orleans Saints, both wholly winnable contests against mediocre opponents. The Rams are ranked 17th overall in opponent strength of schedule, per John Breech of CBSSports.com, and that basically checks out.

Key Matchups

Barring an unforeseen breakout—essentially McVay being a miracle worker—there aren’t any pivotal games on the Los Angeles schedule. This team isn’t making the playoffs. There’s not enough talent here on the offensive side of the ball to push Seattle or Arizona.

This season, as I’m sure most inside the building would acknowledge, is about making progress. Goff has to make major strides in 2017, or McVay’s going to look at replacing him next offseason. This coaching staff has no ties to his future—though general manager Les Snead was involved in his selection.

Kirk Cousins, McVay’s former quarterback in Washington, could be a free agent next year. Changes are coming in some shape or form to this roster over the next 12 months. Gurley is also in a position to prove himself after a miserable sophomore season; it wasn’t all offensive line and quarterback woes causing him to go all Trent Richardson.

Basically, this is a transition year. The Rams need to figure out their next move and improve as the year goes along. If they don’t, even more changes are afoot.